This particular invention relates to enriching air supplied to a coal-injected iron-making blast furnace and using the flue or top gas from the furnace to generate power.
Methods for combining iron production and power generation are described in “Oxygen blast furnace and combined cycle (OBF-CC)—an efficient iron-making and power generation process”, Y. Jianwei et al., Energy 28 (2003) 825-835.
Air Separation Units (ASUs) and methods for making oxygen therein are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,019; hereby incorporated by reference. Methods for combining iron making process with an ASU are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,029 and WO 9728284-A1.
Methods for combining an ASU and power generation are described in “Developments in iron making and opportunities for power generation”, 1999 Gasification Technologies Conference, San Francisco, Calif., Oct. 17-20, 1999. This publication also describes using coal in iron production in order to reduce the amount of coke that is required.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,216,441 B1 discloses removal of inert gases from flue or top gas prior to combustion of it in a gas turbine or combined cycle power plant.
The disclosure of the previously identified patents and patent applications is hereby incorporated by reference.
There is a need in this art for an integrated system that combines coal gasification and oxygen enriched iron production from a blast furnace with power generation, and, if desired, carbon dioxide removal and sequestration.